HR Open Standards Consortium and PESC have worked together in the past. However, the new formal partnership will allow more fluid collaboration. Both organizations are excited about how this new level of co-operation will greatly benefit members of both organizations as well as the HR standards industry as a whole through the sharing of knowledge, development efforts and education.

Background screening potential candidates for employment can be a long and daunting task. “Many of these challenges will be addressed by evolving industry standards that will create greater uniformity in the background screening process,” said Kim Bartkus, Executive Director at HR OpenStandards Consortium. Read more about standards and streamlining the screening process using HR technology in Workforce.com.

A Quick Look into the Past

Towards the end of the 19th century, electrical engineering became one of the core engines of the second industrial revolution. As Nicholas Carr put it, in "The Big Switch," manufacturing energy provided factories "with a decisive advantage over other manufacturers. The company was able to expand the yield and efficiency of its factory. [...] Like other factories of the time, they were as much in the business of manufacturing energy as manufacturing goods". This of course, quickly changed, as power plants started to rise and provide energy at a low-cost to everyone.

An aspect that is often overlooked in that story is that none of this could have happened without the emergence of standards.

While I was on the board of directors for an international standards consortium (HR Open Standards), the biggest battle has always been getting developers to use the standard. When we did, we got amazing things to happen, like getting 18 states to start providing compliance receipts for job deliveries in just a few months. Like enabling entire marketplaces.

Nearly everyone who I’m aware of who launched an HR Open initiative has finished quickly for a few reasons:

Want to get the latest Florence and the Machine album or the latest "Game of Thrones" episode? There is an App store for that. Want to manage your pictures across all your devices? There is an App store for that. Want to manage your to-do list? There is an App store for that. Want to exchange files with your colleagues or family? There is a .... You get the idea.

App stores are convenient; they give you the ability to access all apps in the same virtual place, to browse apps for a particular category or function and to even discover needs that you didn't even know you had. So it's no surprise that App stores have become a predominant -if not the main- way for consumers to acquire (whether free or paying) software or media.It's no surprise either that App stores are flourishing or that each social platform is creating their own. Latest to join the party is no other than Facebook.

There is a tremendous new website resource available to all called "Standards Boost Business.”

This website is hosted by the American National Standards Institute and does an excellent job of describing how standards boost business by streamlining, speeding up, and saving money for organizations.

The website describes a concept called Strategic Standardization. The website goes on to tell us that according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, standards and conformity assessment impact more than 80% of global commodity trade. From design and manufacturing to distribution and marketing, all aspects of your industry’s products and services are affected at some point by standardization.